What Would You Ask the Enemies of Wine Shipping?
If you had a chance to pepper with questions those folks who…
-oppose interstate wine shipping
-oppose consumers being able to access the wines they want but can’t find locally
-have argued that direct shipping by wineries and retailers will not only harm children but also destroy the three-tier system
-have taken every opportunity to tell courts that winery and retailer shipping is dangerous and harmful and that consumers would be happy with what the three-tier system gives them
…what would you ask?
Tomorrow Avalara, a wine shipping compliance firm, will host a free online webinar at which two of the most anti-consumer, anti-shipping and anti-wine access organizations in America will be represented. At tomorrow’s Avalara webinar, entitled “Beyond Granholm: Predicting and preparing for the future of alcohol sales”, we will listen to:
Michelle Korsmo, CEO, Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America
and
John Bodnovich, Executive Director, American Beverage Licensees
Both these organizations have literally spent decades and millions of dollars lobbying and litigating in order to stop consumers from accessing any wines other than the generally shitty selection of wines wholesalers bring into states. They have been adamant that wine shipping will harm children. They have argued that winery shipping will bring down the three-tier system. They have worked as hard as they can to stop retailer to consumer shipping.
What would you ask them in a Q&A session?
Why hasn’t there been a single report in the past 20 years of a minor obtaining access to wine via direct shipping other than in a sting operation?
Do WSWA and ABL still oppose winery to consumer shipping like they did for decades leading up to and after the Granholm decision?
What is the proper response to a consumer that asks, “why are you trying to stop me from obtaining wines from out-of-state retailers that are not available to me locally?”
Of course, there are many other questions one might ask and it appears you are welcome to. All you need to do is sign up and attend the one-hour webinar.
BEYOND GRANHOLM
Tuesday, August 25
11am PT / 2pm ET
Thanks for the PSA, Tom!
Amazing! After Granholm still asking the questions we asked in the 1980s when I started the fight for direct shipping with Wine Institute and helped get Reciprocal Shipping. The same ones we asked when we started the Coalition for Free Trade in the 1990s that led to Granholm.
Fantoccini.
Never heard that tax automation Avalara is a wine shipping compliance firm.
Was interesting when Michelle Korsmo (WSWA) started to reply to the question about delivery from local retailers versus interstate shipment and tried to differentiate the two (if you listen to the reply, this is at about the 55 minute mark). She states that delivery is going to stick because customers ‘want better, faster, cheaper.’
She goes on to describe what better, faster, cheaper looks like. She says ‘choice’, ‘speed’ and ‘pricing.’ She struggles with the choice argument by saying that we have a tremendous amount of choice right now (without interstate retailer shipping). She also struggles with the pricing piece. Speed is the one thing that she clearly noted the advantage of delivery versus shipping. She says delivery is controllable by the local regulators as opposed to shipping.
The irony is that 40+ states have figured out how to ‘control’ shipping to a level they have comfort (and revenue) with.
“It’s why WSWA invested in Drizly: to support the online delivery system and help consumers get the alcoholic beverages they want, delivered through the three-tier model.” (Michelle Korsmo in the interview to Cathy Huyghe in February 2019).
We hope that Bill St. Croix now understands why this particular topic was “55 minute mark”.
Michelle Korsmo is just a stooge of her sponsors. She doesn’t want to hear that many alcoholic beverages they (consumers) want only exist in the three-tier model of one State, or just do not fit to the three-tier model at all. Her invasive puppeteers will never distribute these alcoholic beverages in the three-tier model of another State, because of low demand or limited quantity.
She doesn’t want to hear how with the help of the sponsors of her organization a tremendous amount of choice turned from the fine brands to a mass production generic booze.
Great article. And really enjoyed reading the comments as well.
Cheers to everyone.
Your article gave me a lot of inspiration, I hope you can explain your point of view in more detail, because I have some doubts, thank you.